In the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 30, thousands of Villanova students were returning to campus from various spots in the Philadelphia area after spending the day performing acts of service for various different communities for Villanova’s yearly Day of Service.
“St. Thomas of Villanova was known for his great charity to the poor and marginalized,” the Day of Service page on Villanova’s website said. “The Villanova community celebrates its patron saint and his legacy of Caritas – Love – with an annual Day of Service in his name.”
Meghan Chegwidden is one of the chief organizers of this year’s Day of Service, and is a strong believer in the event having a positive, lasting impact on the student body.
“Day of Service is less about individuals and more about the entirety of the Villanova community coming together to serve the area around us,” Chegwidden said. “It’s remarkable that 5,000 volunteers from across the Villanova community congregated to give back. We have a strong focus on the mission behind why we are serving and work to have the student body reflect about what it is that drives them to serve others. We hope that the experience the Day of Service provides is impactful enough to motivate students to want to serve more in the day-to-day.”
Villanova University was built upon the Augustinian ideals of service, and while Day of Service allows students to put these values into action, I believe the day largely falls short in making any lasting impact on the student body, especially when compared to many of the service-based clubs that dominate campus life.
Clubs such as NOVAdance and Special Olympics (SpO) have embedded themselves deeply in Villanova student life. Both clubs employ the talents of hundreds of students to put together bombastic on-campus festivals and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to charitable organizations.
These events are beloved by the student body, inspiring the devotion of new and current members and continued pledging by non-members year after year. Students who participate in SpO and NOVAdance routinely mention how much they enjoy being a part of these clubs and that their associated events are highlights of the year.
In contrast, I rarely hear such things about Day of Service. Many of my friends speak about the event like it’s something that they have to do because their club or organization is signed up for it, rather than because they genuinely look forward to or value the experience. I can recall the mood on campus being one of relief when last year’s Day of Service was canceled.
Compared to the on-campus clubs, Day of Service seems to offer no opportunities for groups to choose what they do with their day. Friends have told me that the University assigns how, where and with whom their group volunteers rather than letting student leaders choose.
The selection process works this way for a few reasons. For one, the number of volunteers changes each year, and individual sites can only accommodate a specific number of people. Additionally, sites may change year-to-year, as the University has well-established ties with some and also endeavors to work with new organizations every year depending on need.
Essentially, because the University is the intermediary between the sites and students, it decides where people go. However, allowing student groups to have input on where they go and who they work with would go a long way towards making Day of Service an event in which even more students want to participate.
Senior Jackie Slate, a Coordinator with Community Outreach Villanova (COV), spoke to the importance of direct, chosen and sustained service.
“At COV, we have 15 different service sites that students visit on a weekly basis throughout the semester,” Slate said. “These sites range from tutoring inner city kids to serving at soup kitchens and nursing homes. Serving weekly is extremely valuable because it allows us to form lasting relationships with both the site itself and its members.”
Beyond the issue of choice and connection with service, Day of Service brings to mind the infamous concept of “Nova Nice,” the assertion that Villanova perpetuates a culture of small, effortless acts of kindness, like holding the door for somebody.
As the understanding goes, these are acts done not out of actual kindness, but the desire to appear like you care about other people. At times, at Villanova, these niceties are done out of expectation or desired perception rather than true compassion.
Day of Service seems to be an extension of the Nova Nice: there is a cultural expectation to participate in the event, yet it rarely seems to inspire a dedication to continued service in its participants or a true connection between an on-campus group and an off-campus community.
If the University really wishes to exercise and promote the Augustinian value of Caritas, it should focus on nurturing clubs like NOVAdance and SpO and making it easier for other organizations to venture off campus by themselves and lend their time and talents to those in need.
